Multimedia

Narratives

Site Information

Battles - The Battle of Festubert, 1915

Forming part of French Commander-in-Chief
Joseph Joffre's Artois Offensive in the
spring of 1915 - his second large-scale infantry assault following the
Champagne Offensive in December 1914 - the Battle of Festubert, in the Ypres
Salient, was fought by the Allies (British, Canadian and Indian troops)
against the Germans from 15-27 May 1915.

Sponsored Links

The Festubert attack was launched by
Sir Douglas Haig in response to pressure
applied to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) by Joffre, and was the
BEF's second attack during the offensive, following an assault upon Neuve
Chapelle four days earlier on 9 May.

Preceded by a four day artillery bombardment by over 400 guns firing 100,000
shells, the attack around the village of Festubert was launched at night on
15 May by two divisions of mostly Indian infantry, and made rapid initial
progress, despite the failure of the
preliminary bombardment to effectively
destroy the German Sixth Army front line defences (under
Crown Prince
Rupprecht). Under attack, the Germans retreated to a line directly in
front of the village.

A further assault upon these lines, by
Canadian troops, was begun on 18 May, but was unsuccessful in the face of
German artillery fire. In heavy rain some Allied troops began to
prepare trenches to consolidate the small gains made thus far. During
that same evening the German front line received a further injection of
reserves.

Renewed attacks by the Allied forces between
20-24 May resulted in the capture of Festubert village itself, a position
held until the German advance of spring 1918. Despite having captured
Festubert however, the Allied forces had advanced less than a kilometre;
consequently the attack was ended on 27 May, with the British having
suffered some 16,000 casualties during the action.